Without doubt, the Greco-Turkish War of 1919 is an important part of Turkish and Greek histories.

In Turkey, I, like my peers, began to study the history of the Ottoman Empire/the Republic of Turkey at an early age. Whenever we covered WWI and the decline of the Ottoman Empire in high school (many, many years ago), we took great pride in the victory of the Turkish Great Offensive that ended the Greco-Turkish War and gave birth to the Turkish Republic.

A remarkable moment in history, for sure–one that needed to be studied and remembered. As we delved into the facts, the dates, the ramifications, and so on in high school, I realized later in college that we had not gone beyond the history textbooks.

There’s so much that is left out when we study the history of the age-old rivalry between two neighbors, Greece and Turkey in general and the Greco-Turkish War in particular. For example, I don’t remember us covering the emotional, mental and physical challenges that Greek and Turkish refugees faced during the Great Population Exchange. I don’t remember us humanizing the process nor do I remember us delving deep into the injustices the two governments had inflicted on the refugees as they were compelled to leave their home, properties, friends, lovers, and memories behind.

Children of War fills this gap in the historical record by presenting an honest narrative about war, identity and collective trauma. Penned by Turkish journalist and author Ahmet Yorulmaz (1932-2014) in 1997 and translated from the Turkish by Paula Darwish in 2019, this brief work of historical fiction sheds a light on a forgotten part of Ottoman/Turkish/Greek history: the forced migration of Cretan Muslims from Greece to Anatolia. By signing the Lausanne Peace Treaty in 1923, Turkey and Greece agreed to displace two million people (app. 23.000 of whom were Muslim Cretans) on the basis of their religion. Yorulmaz’s beautifully written story explores the ramifications of the population exchange through the perspective of a young Muslim Cretan, Hassanaki.

Hassanaki narrates his experiences, as he explores what it means to straddle two identities at a historical conjuncture characterized by the rise of nationalist trends. As the number of anti-Muslim/Turkish hate crimes increases on the Island of Crete, Hassanaki struggles to comprehend the polarizing rhetoric that divides the Cretans into “us” and “them.”

As Muslim Cretans are increasingly viewed as a threat to Greek unity, it becomes more and more challenging to maintain peace on the island. Thus, Hassanaki is forced to flee Crete, and he emigrates to Ayvalik, Turkey, a coastal city located right across the Island of Lesvos, in 1923. In Greece, Hassanaki, like other Muslims, is seen as “the Other” in his homeland. Once he is compelled to “swallow the poison of leaving our homeland behind us” and relocates to Turkey, his struggle to belong continues.

Although he never tells the reader straightforwardly, it is evident that Hassanaki writes to remember–and to reclaim his Greekness and Turkishness. We can then say that the book that we are reading, which is based on the diaries of a Cretan refugee found in Ayvalik, serves as a tool through which Hassanaki preserves his hyphenated identity.

Children of War is one of the most important translated works released in 2020. Hassanaki’s story encourages us to resist the politics of demonization that breeds polarization and fear—fear of difference and of change.

Through all the marginalized characters whose voices it recovers, from the Black Cretan couple Mullah Mavruk and his wife Cemile to Hassanaki’s lover Husniye who is of North African descent, Children of War reminds us to challenge normative assumptions about ethnicity, race and identity.

Read my full review on http://readingundertheolivetree.com/2020/06/16/from-greece-to-turkey-children-of-war-by-ahmet-yorulmaz/

This is a sad and poignant tale, as well as a sometimes horrific one, about a period in history about which I knew very little – the enmity between Greek Christians and Turkish Muslims on the island of Crete. For generations the two communities lived beside each other amicably and peacefully. Then politics took over and the Turkish Muslims were persecuted and forced to flee back to their “homeland”, even though Crete had been that homeland for so many years. The novel focusses on young Hassanakis, a child when the book opens, and whom we follow through the trials and tribulations his family have to go through before they can reach safety. It’s quite a story, but I didn’t think the writing lived up to the subject. I never felt that I was inside the characters’ heads as we are told too much rather than shown and none of them came fully alive for me, not even Hassanakis himself, whose voice we hear. The book ended very abruptly, and I assume there is going to be a sequel but even so such a sudden ending leaves the reader a little disconcerted. All in all, an interesting novel but not a very literary one.

I don’t know if it was the writing or the translation, but this was difficult to read. It is fairly short, but I struggled through it. I found myself needing to read each sentence at least twice because it was rough reading to get through.

I picked up this book because firstly, I was attracted to the cover, and had very little knowledge of the struggle between Turkey and Greece. Children of War is a great book for someone who wants to find out more of what was happening during the first world war in Crete and how Turkish people were treated at that time as the book contains facts and fiction. Ahmet Yorulmaz give an amazing insight into people's day to day lives and shows how they became who they are today.
However, I felt like the book was not long enough, I wanted more from the characters and more details not only from Hassanakis side, but also from the woman point of view.

Before I read "Children of War" by Ahmet Yorulmaz, I was not aware of the plight of Cretes, particularly Muslim Cretes in the constant struggle between Turkey and Greece. Half autobiographical, the book narrates the violence and instability of existence for a young Crete male as he grows up in a small town. What struck me most is the duality of national versus personal identity and how state systems use the two against each other. Because the man is Muslim, he is banned from being a Greek. A sentimental read on a often not discussed topic!

This was a heart warming book during the war regarding Turkey and Crete. Love both of these countries and also love historical books on war. Brilliant book

The descrption and book cover attracted me and it was a fantastic read. Loved the romantic stories running parallel to an otherwise serious plot.